Jones has big-night potential

Paul Jones, the five-time defending national training champion, could have a big night Saturday with contenders in four of the five graded stakes on Bank of America Challenge Championship night at Los Alamitos.

The four Grade 1 stakes and one Grade 2 stakes have total purses of $850,000.

In the Grade 1, $300,000 Bank of America Challenge Championship, Jones sends out Ruidoso Downs 440-yard track-record holder Strawkins, who set that mark of 20.73 seconds in the Grade 1 Rainbow Derby. He has a win in the Grade 2 Bank of America California Challenge from two 2007 starts.

The Challenge Championship winner receives an invitation to the Grade 1, $1 million Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos on Dec. 15.

In the Grade 2, $150,000 Ford Juvenile Challenge Championship, Jones has the Ford New Mexico Juvenile Challenge winner, Pappasito. The son of leading sire Corona Cartel and All American Futurity winner Strawberry Silk, he has won 3 of his 5 starts. He will face Pool, winner of 6 of 8 starts, and LP Leading Effort, winner of 5 of 7 starts.

In the Grade 1, $100,000 John Deere Distaff Challenge Championship, Jones sends out Blazin Fire, who won the Grade 2 Las Damas Handicap last year and came back this year to win the Grade 3 John Deere California Distaff Challenge.

In the Grade 1, $100,000 Red Cell Distance Challenge, Jones has the defending champion distance horse, Snowbound Superstar. A strapping gray gelding, he has a nine-race winning streak, with those wins coming in his only career starts at 870 yards. His nine wins have a combined victory margin of 50 lengths.

In the Grade 1, $200,000 Bayer Legend Derby Challenge, Jones does not have a qualifier, and the California representative is the Hector Hernandez-trained Czech N Out Ashley. The gelding has won 5 of his latest 7 starts, including three stakes at Los Alamitos.